Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, has a very very long history. England was the first country where the game was developed and codified. The modern global game of football was first codified in 1863 in London.
With women in particular, football was less popular in the past. The first women's football teams were known until the late of 19th century, and the club's first public match took place at Crouch End, London on 23 March 1895, between teams representing 'The North' and 'The South'.
Let's take a look at these rarely historic photos to see the beginning days of women's football teams in the late 19th to early 20th centuries.
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| The British Ladies' Football Club (North team), also known as the first women's football team ever, 1895 |
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| The British Ladies' Football Club (South team), 1895 |
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| Rosy Rapids FC, Wheatley Hill, County Durham, 1909 |
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| Lancashire United Transport Ladies FC, Atherton, Lancashire, 1915 |
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| North Eastern Marine Ladies, 1915 |
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| Wallsend Slipway Ladies, 1917 |
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| Whitehaven Ladies, 1917 |
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| Mossband Munition Girls, Mossband, Cumberland, 1917 |
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| Derwent Mills Ladies, Cockermouth, 1917 |
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| Pratchitt's Ladies, Carlisle, 1917 |
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| Vulcan Shell Girls, Vulcan Foundry and Railway Works, Newton-le-Willows, 1917 |
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| Workington Ladies FC, 1917 |
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| Armstrong's Elswick Factory, 1917 |
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| Government Rolling Mills Ladies (Woolston, Southampton), 1917 |
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| Ramsey Girls FC, 1917 |
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| Ramsey Girls FC, 1917 |
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| Barnsley Shell Factory, 1917 |
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| Rudge Ladies, Coventry, 1918 |
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| White and Poppe's Ladies, Coventry, 1918 |
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| Humber Ladies, Coventry, with the Coventry Sportsmen's Challenge Cup, 1918 |
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| Birtley Cartridge Case Factory, 1918 |
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| Barrow YMCA Ladies FC, 1918 |
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| Hood Haggies Munition Girls, 1918 |
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| Armstrong's No. 43 Shell Shop, Scotswood, Newcastle, 1918 |
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| Blyth Spartans Munition Girls - Munitionette Cup Winners, 1918 |
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| Bolckow, Vaughan (Middlesbrough) Ladies - Munitionette Cup Runners-up, 1918 |
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| Carlisle Munition Girls 1918 |
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| Swansea National Shell Factory, 1918 |
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| Bucknall Reserve Ladies at Queen's Park, Longton, Staffordshire, 1918 |
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| West of Scotland Ladies, 1918 |
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| Wallsend Slipway Ladies F.C., 1918 |
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| Lever Brothers Ladies - Port Sunlight, 1918 |
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| Darlington North Eastern Railway Workshops, 1918 |
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| Brown's Sawmills, Hartlepool, 1918 |
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| Marconi Ladies, 1918 |
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| Dainty Dinahs, Chester-le-Street, 1918 |
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| Lancaster Ladies FC, 1919 |